Chapter 87 - Selling the Copyright to the Novel and Fairy tales! (2/2)
The middle-aged man was stunned, “You are the author of ‘Ghost Blows Out the Light’?”
Zhang Ye laughed, “Hur Hur, that’s me alright.”
“Eh, I thought you were not planning on selling your copyright?” the middle-aged man curiously asked.
Zhang Ye said, “I never said so. You must have gotten that information from my unit, right? The unit did not inform me. They told you things I know nothing about. I have also resigned already.”
Hearing this, the middle-aged man was very excited, “Aiyah, then that’s great. We were still worried about how to get the rights to ‘Ghost Blows Out the Light’, but your unit was unwilling to reveal anything. Now that we have gotten ahold of you, things can be expedited. Teacher Zhang Ye, I’m the one who was in charge of this matter, so you can discuss about the copyright matters with me. Do you want to go the royalty route or a one-time buyout of the simplified Chinese edition copyright?”
“What would be the prices?” Zhang Ye asked.
The middle-aged man said, “If it’s royalties, then it will be normal, for we all use a standard rate. It will be based on a percentage of the sales received. If it’s a buyout, we had offered two million to your radio station back then. Of course, that was back then. Now ‘Ghost Blows Out the Light’ is causing a greater effect on the market, and the response is very hot. Many people are looking forward to a physical copy. Even a few tomb robbing books that imitate yours have sales of about 100,000 copies. Even if I don’t tell you, I believe you will understand. Nor will I lie to you, as the evaluation of your work is definitely very high. Uh, let’s do this. I’ll make the decision, and not decide based on the word count. I’ll offer four million. We only want the copyright to the simplified Chinese edition. The rest of the copyright belongs to you; how about it?”
“It’s a bit low, right?” Zhang Ye’s tone sounded unsatisfied, but he was actually overjoyed in his heart. Baby, four million? This was enough to buy him so many instant noodles!
However, upon further thought, it was actually not a lot. In his world, ‘Ghost Blows Out the Light’ had gone mad. He did not know how much the author had received, but it was definitely more than four million.
The middle-aged man paused, “Teacher Zhang, I’m not sure how much you want, but please believe me. Only our Beijing Education Publis.h.i.+ng Firm will be willing to buy the copyright of one book with four million. It happens that we have good cash flow this year. If it were other publis.h.i.+ng firms, none of them would dare make such a bet, for if the sales aren’t good…”
Zhang Ye interrupted, “Can’t you already estimate the sales volume? If the works that imitate mine already have such sales, the sales of mine would definitely be higher than theirs by a lot more once ‘Ghost Blows Out the Light’ comes out! I believe you know the market better than me.”
The middle-aged man said, “But your program has been broadcast on radio, and many have already heard it, so it might cause some detrimental effect to the sales.”
Nonsense. ‘Ghost Blows Out the Light’ was first posted online in his world. And weren’t there quite a number of people who had read it? Yet, I didn’t see it having low sales when it was published!
After more bargaining.
Zhang Ye requested for six million.
The other side was only willing to give 4.8 million, having added a bit more.
After the bargaining could not carry on, the middle-aged man pondered and said, “Alright, Teacher Zhang, we can do six million, too, but you will have to give the publis.h.i.+ng rights of ‘Little Bunnies Be Good’, ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarves’, ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ and ‘The Wizard of Oz’ to us. We are an education publisher firm, so that is our core business. We can include some ill.u.s.trations and sell them as small books. With all that added up, six million!” Clearly, they knew Zhang Ye well and had done their homework on his fairy tales. They knew the value of those stories!
“The fairy tales do not include the overseas copyright, right?”
“Man, no it does not. Only the domestic simplified edition. As for publis.h.i.+ng overseas… We don’t have that ability, either.” The middle-aged man felt that Zhang Ye was very ambitious. Was he already thinking of selling the fairy tales overseas?
Zhang Ye did some calculations and felt that the price was right, “Alright, then.”
“Great! Since we are in a rush for time, shall we meet now? And sign the contract?” The middle-aged man said, “I am also a loyal listener of ‘Ghost Blows Out the Light’. I can tell that this novel will end in a few more episodes, so once we sign the contract, we can send a lawyer’s letter to the Beijing Radio Station to stop the broadcast of ‘Ghost Blows Out the Light’. The audio edition copyright is still in your hands, right?”
“Yes, all the copyright is with me.” Zhang Ye said.
“Then, that’s great. If the radio station finishes broadcasting it, then there is no suspense. It will definitely affect the sales. Since you have already resigned, I believe you have no qualms about stopping the broadcast?”
“Of course not. You can do it for me.”
“Alright, leave this to us. I’ll immediately draw up the contract!”
Having negotiated successfully, both sides were overjoyed.
Actually, the price received for selling ‘Ghost Blows Out the Light’ was not that high. It could be said to be acceptable, at best. However, Zhang Ye knew that in his world, the legendary sales of ‘Ghost Blows Out the Light’ were not created in a short period of time, but over a long process. One year, two years, three years, they were acc.u.mulated sales figures. And the publis.h.i.+ng firm had bought it out with six million at once. After inflation and other factors, Zhang Ye did not lose out at all, and it was just the simplified Chinese edition. It did not include the copyrights to games or movies, so he was very pleased.
The contract was signed.
Details and the promotion were discussed.
The morning of the second day.
Deputy Station Head Jia had just arrived at the radio station. But before he could enter his office, his secretary came rus.h.i.+ng over. “Station Head Jia, we have a situation. The Beijing Education Publis.h.i.+ng Firm has sent us a lawyer’s letter, requesting that we immediately stop broadcasting ‘Ghost Blows Out the Light’, or they will sue us for infringement!”
“Infringement?” Deputy Station Head Jia said angrily, “What copyright has our program infringed on!?”
The secretary gave a wry smile, “But, but the novel was written by Zhang Ye. He never gave us the copyright. Now, the lawyer’s letter is with the Station Head. I heard that it even has Zhang Ye’s signature.”
Deputy Station Head Jia’s anger surged, “What is this Little Zhang doing? Eh? How can he stop the broadcast after it had been broadcast for so long? How are we to answer to the listeners?”
The secretary sighed, “But legally, we are indeed…”
The phone in the office rang, Deputy Station Head Jia quickly went forward to pick it up, “h.e.l.lo. Oh, Station Head… What? Stop the broadcast? How are we to stop! The story isn’t over yet… But… Alright, I understand. I will instruct the Literature Channel… Rest a.s.sured.”
The station did not want to lose money in a court case. The Station Head had compromised!
Deputy Station Head Jia was gritting his teeth with hate. This Zhang Ye! He was gone, but he was still around haunting them?
Admittedly, they had caused a ban on Zhang Ye and Deputy Station Head Jia had naively thought that Zhang Ye would never have a platform of his own forever, existing silently. With such a major “ban order”, what waves could he set off without a program? But Deputy Station Head Jia now realized something. They could suppress Zhang Ye in the broadcasting industry, but they had no say in other industries!
The publication world?
They could not ban him even if they wanted to!
And Zhang Ye was not a person with only broadcasting abilities! He also had his creations! And those novels and fairy tales! Despite Zhang Ye leaving the broadcasting industry, Deputy Station Head Jia realized to his anger that Zhang Ye could still thrive! This made him extremely angry, but he was helpless!
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